How Immigration Policies Shape Gender‐ Based Violence Against Immigrants Who Have a Temporary Or Precarious Status
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25/02/2020 How Immigration Policies Shape Gender‐ based Violence against Immigrants Who Have a Temporary or Precarious Status Rupaleem Bhuyan & Margarita Pintin-Perez University of Toronto | OCASI Learning Network & Knowledge Hub Wednesday, February 26, 2020 | 1:00-2:15 PM EST Welcome to our Learning Network & Knowledge Hub Webinar Understanding how immigration policies shape gender-based violence among immigrants who have a temporary or precarious status Wednesday, February 26, 2020 | 1:00-2:15 PM EST • All attendees are muted during the webinar. • If you are experiencing issues, please type into the chat box. • If you have a question for the webinar speakers, please type into the Q&A box and we will spend 15 mins near the end on Questions and Answers. • There will be an evaluation link in the chat box at the end of the webinar, please fill out the form as your feedback will guide our future webinars. • Once you complete the evaluation form, you will be directed to a website where you will be prompted to enter your full name and email address. A certificate of attendance will be generated and emailed to you. • Presentation slides are posted on our website, there will be a link in the chat box. • The webinar recording will be posted on our website within the next few days: http://www.vawlearningnetwork.ca/ln-kh-webinars 1 25/02/2020 Canadian Immigration Policies and Precarious Status Forms of Gender-Based Violence Overview against Immigrants Case Example: Migrant Caregivers Myths & Counternarratives Community-Based Responses Action Steps 2 25/02/2020 Policy Context Early Canadian History .1867, Queen & British govt approve Canada’s confederation .1869, Immigration Act .1876,Canadian Indian Act Context .1885, Chinese Immigration Act . Additional exclusions in 1887, 1892, 1900, 1903, 1906, 1908… 3 25/02/2020 Contemporary Canada . 1962, Removal of racial exclusions . 1967, Introduced points system . 1971/1988 Multiculturalism Act . 1973, Temporary Foreign Worker Program . 2001, Immigration and Refugee Protection Act 4 25/02/2020 Canada’s Streams for Permanent Residence Economic Family Humanitarian • Express Entry (Points) • Spouse/partner • Convention Refugee • Entrepreneur/Investor • Dependent child •Asylum • Provincial Nominee • Parent/Grandparent seeker/refugee • Caregiver claimant • Dependent • Humanitarian & spouse/child of econ. Compassionate Immigrant Grounds (H&C) • Designated persons Economic 159,262 Permanent Family 82,470 Residents in Refugee 44,747 2017 Total 286,479 Government of Canada (2018a) 5 25/02/2020 International 572,000 Students Temporary 254,540 Temporary Workers Residents in Refugee 29,435 2018 claimants Total 855,975 Government of Canada (2018b) 6 25/02/2020 Immigration to Canada by Category 2015-2017 by Gender: Principal Applicants & Immediate Family Members IRCC (2018) 7 25/02/2020 Defining Precarious Immigration Status . Excluded from rights of citizenship . Precarious status lacks one or more of the following (Goldring et.al., 2010): Defining× Work Precarious authorization × TheStatus right to remain permanently in Canada × Social and political rights available to permanent residents and citizens × Not being dependent on a third party for one’s right to be in Canada × Potential to be detained or deported .Intersectionality .Gender-Based Violence Framework .Structural Violence .Anti-Oppressive Practice 8 25/02/2020 “Intersectionalities color the meaning and nature of GBV, how it is experienced by the self and responded to by others; how personal and social consequences are reproduced, and how and whether escape and safety can be obtained” (Natalie Solokoff, 2005) Non-status due to expiration of visitor or temporary resident visa In the midst of sponsorship breakdown Forms of Precarious Waiting for refugee or humanitarian claim Status for People determination Seeking Safety from Refugee claimant denied or dismissed GBV Asylum seeker with deportation order Families with mixed-status Trafficked person 9 25/02/2020 Matoo, 2016 Bhuyan et al. (2014) 10 25/02/2020 “Structural violence is one way of describing social arrangements that put individuals and populations in harm’s way… The arrangements are structural because they are embedded in the political and economic organization of our social world; they are violent because they cause injury to people … neither culture nor pure individual will is at fault; rather, historically given (and often economically driven) processes and forces conspire to constrain individual agency.” (Paul Farmer, 2006) . Structural violence harms people by denying people from meeting their basic needs. Structural Violence & GBV against Immigrants Violence against . Family reunification policies Immigrant & . Migrant worker policies Refugee . International student policies Women . Systemic racism & xenophobia . Lack of safe & affordable housing . Precarious work and low wages . Threat of detention or deportation Ahmad et al, (2018) 11 25/02/2020 CAREGIVERS JOURNEYS, 2014-2018 MIGRANT MOTHERS PROJECT BUILDING LEADERSHIP CAPACITY TO Case Studies ADDRESS GBV AGAINST NON-STATUS, REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT WOMEN OCASI www.caregiv er- action.com 1981 2017 12 25/02/2020 26 13 25/02/2020 27 28 14 25/02/2020 Caregiver Program as a Pathway to “Illegality” Carol’s Journey Feb-Oct 2015 Worked under the table Sept 2016 Sept 2014 while permit was being processed Released from Arrived in Calgary Employer 2014 2015 2016 2017 February 2015 June 2015 Oct 2015 Jan 2017 Left Employer New LMIA New closed Aims to approved work permit complete LIC approved program Forms of Abuse & Exploitation Put down Not allowed to leave the Yelled at house or call family; Insulted not given a key. Unpaid for long, Denied extra hours privacy; nutrition Forced to care for Sexually harassed, other people; or touched or work extra jobs. assaulted. 15 25/02/2020 16 25/02/2020 MYTHS AND COUNTERNARRATIVES: ADDRESSING GBV AGAINST NON-STATUS, REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT WOMEN MYTH: VIOLENCE AGAINST RACIALIZED IMMIGRANT WOMEN IS A CULTURAL PROBLEM 17 25/02/2020 COUNTERNARRATIVE MYTH: CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND SOCIAL SERIVCE RESPONSES ARE NOT FRAMED AROUND ‘IDEAL VICTIMS’ 18 25/02/2020 COUNTERNARRATIVE Building Leadership Capacity to Address Gender- Based Violence against Non-Status, Refugee and Immigrant Women across Canada 19 25/02/2020 WHAT IS THE PEER CHAMPION PROGRAM? ● Modeled after the Immigrant and Refugee Communities Neighbours, Friends and Families Campaign ● A program that uses popular education to build leadership capacity and foster connections among NSRI women ● Develops tools and activities to guide conversations about gender-based violence prevention, which include the insight and self-determination of racialized, immigrant and refugee communities 20 25/02/2020 WHAT IS A COMMUNITY ADVOCACY NETWORK? ● Modeled after the Rights of Non-Status Women’s Network ● A strategy which establishes grassroots networks among NSRI survivors, service providers, and other civil society leaders, in order to build community capacity for developing survivor-led, evidence-based solutions to GBV ● Provides tools, training and resources and develops national and regional strategy plans KEY LEARNINGS? ● WHAT DOES LEADERSHIP LOOK LIKE? ● WHAT IS STRUCTURAL SAFETY/HEALING? ● HOW DO WE STRENGTHEN SHARED RESPONSIBILITY AND ADVOCACY 21 25/02/2020 Recognize Center Grassroots Relationships What you Leaders can do. Involve Center People Stories Seeking Justice Implement Hold Gender Government Analysis & Accountable Budgeting Rupaleem Bhuyan, PhD Margarita Pintin-Perez, PhD Associate Professor Senior Coordinator Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work GBV Building Leadership Capacity Project University of Toronto OCASI [email protected] [email protected] ps://ocasi.org/ www.migrantmothersproject.com 22 25/02/2020 Resource Links Linksces . Battered Women’s Support Services https://www.bwss.org/ . Butterfly – Migrant Sex Workers Netowrk https://www.butterflysw.org/ . Community Legal Education Ontario (CLEO) Steps to Justice https://stepstojustice.ca/ . Canadian Council for Refugees https://ccrweb.ca/en/violence_against_women_resources . Ending Violence—Association of BC. https://endingviolence.org/ . Migrante Canada http://www.migrante.ca/ . Migrant Workers Alliance for Change https://migrantworkersalliance.org/ . No One Is Illegal –Vancouver, Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal https://www.nooneisillegal.org/ . Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants https://ocasi.org/gender-based-violence . OK2BME-LBGTQ+ Immigration https://ok2bme.ca/resources/outside-of-canada/canadas-laws/ . South Asian Legal Clinic of Ontario – End Forced Marriage Project https://salc.on.ca/forced- marriage/ . YWCA Metro Vancouver-Mothers without Status https://ywcavan.org/advocacy/mothers-without- legal-status Glossary – Federal Agencies . CANADA BORDER SERVICES AGENCY (CBSA): A federal law enforcement agency that is responsible for border protection and surveillance, immigration enforcement and customs services in Canada. IMMIGRATION AND REFUGEE BOARD (IRB): The tribunal responsible for making decisions on immigration and refugee matters. IMMIGRATION, REFUGEES AND CITIZENSHIP CANADA (IRCC): The federal department responsible for administering who enters Canada, the protection of refuges, granting citizenship, and immigrant settlement. 23 25/02/2020 Glossary – Immigrant Categories . MIGRANT: A person who changes their country of residence, irrespective of the reason for migration or status. PERMANENT RESIDENT: A person who has been issued a permanent resident card but is not yet